Read Online Just Count on Me: Counting on Love Prequel by Erin Nicholas - Free Book Online Page B

them, listen to them rave about how great it is, but I’ll tell them you made it.”
    She grinned. “I accept. Oh, and,” she said, thinking of something else. “You can be my advisor.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “I make bad decisions when it comes to men and relationships. As a guy, you can help me see where they’re coming from and help me avoid picking the jerks.”
    “You make bad decisions with men?” Cody asked, frowning. “That’s not okay.”
    “That’s why I could use an advisor.”
    “I accept. Though I’ll be honest, I kind of want to tell you to just never date anyone again.”
    She gave him a smile. “That’s probably not realistic.”
    “No?”
    She shook her head. “There’s something about me you should know.”
    He lifted an eyebrow.
    She looked around then leaned in, as if to impart a very deep secret. “I’m a hopeless romantic.”
    Cody’s other eyebrow went up. “What’s that mean?”
    “I believe in true love. Romance. Soul mates. The whole thing. I watch romantic chic flicks and read romance novels. I love Valentine’s Day. I love love stories. I’m sappy and sentimental and I want it.”
    “It?”
    “True love. The big love story.”
    He sat looking at her.
    Finally she fidgeted. “Stupid, huh?”
    He took a deep breath. “No. Not even a little. Which surprises me.”
    “Surprises you?”
    “From anyone else, it might sound silly, but you sell it, Liv. You make me want to believe in it too.”
    She smiled. “Stick around. I’ll show you that true love happens all the time.”
    He nodded and leaned back. “Yeah, that might be a problem.”
    “Why’s that?”
    “I already liked you and found you attractive. Last night you proved that you’re also very hot. And just now you became adorable.”
    She wrinkled her nose. “Adorable?”
    “In a very good—tempting—way.”
    “Oh.”
    “So if we’re going to hang out and be friends and show Conner that we sincerely like each other and want to spend time together, then we’re going to need some rules.”
    “Rules. Okay, like…”
    “No kissing.”
    She laughed. “Well, yeah, isn’t that a given?”
    “I’m just thinking that it might, at times, be tempting to do it, but I think it’s just going to start a whole bunch of stuff we can’t control. Like New Year’s Eve. We shouldn’t kiss at midnight. And we need to stay away from mistletoe. And no birthday kisses or kissing hello or goodbye.”
    Uh, huh. She’d clearly been missing a lot of great opportunities to kiss him in the past. “Yeah, okay, those make sense.”
    “And no talking about sex.”
    She tipped her head. “Why would we talk about sex?”
    “I just think we need to be careful talking about anything that will take our thoughts down a dangerous path. Being around you will be hard enough. I don’t need to take any Cosmo quizzes or give the guy’s perspective on anything sexual or anything.”
    “But that’s such a great perk to having a guy friend,” she protested.
    “Can’t do it.”
    She felt a little thrill at how obviously affected he was. “Fine. What else?”
    “No skimpy clothing.” His eyes ran over her from head to toe.
    “Skimpy?”
    “Short skirts, short shorts, tight jeans.”
    “So ugly baggy sweatpants and stained t-shirts only?” she asked.
    He nodded. “Yes. Please.”
    “Well, the same goes for you then. No taking your shirt off to work on my car or something,” she said. She understood what he was saying. The attraction wasn’t going to go away—even with repeat exposure probably—so they needed to avoid things that would make the temptation stronger.
    “Agreed.”
    “Anything else?”
    “No drinking when we’re alone together. I don’t need to lose any inhibitions.”
    She couldn’t contain her smile at that. He made it seem that he really was going to have to work to resist her. That did a girl’s ego some good. “Deal.”
    “Okay, good. So we have a plan.”
    “Sounds like